"$40 oil is not cheap" ROTFLOL, it is incredibly cheap when you think what can be accomplished for only $40. In Yurope we are paying the equivalent of $160/barrel and it's so cheap people are still buying gas guzlers.

It is so cheap that although it took millions of years to form and is finite we are going to have burnt through most of it in only 100 years and in a large extent to take trips to the mall to buy plastic crap that we don't need.

IMHO we should forget about complex cap and trade schemes that are open to abuse and will benefit traders (our good friends the banks again) instead adopt a simple tax on fossil fuels at source, say $40/barrel steadily rising. If wanted the proceeds can be returned to Joe Public in any number of ways, e.g. to provide a proper health system in the USA ??? to provide a more sustainable infrastructure, monthly lottery tickets....

Unfortunately tax based schemes are clear so are unlikely to be adopted instead of something that is obscure and does not immeditaly impact them. Remember politicians have only two goals 1 to be elected, 2 to be re-elected.

Perhaps i should just buy that Ferrari:-(